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The purpose of this paper is to estimate the intra-family distribution of income and the individual demand for leisure and household production from Swedish cross-sectional household data. As a basis for the analysis, we use a collective model where each individual is characterized by his or her own utility function and divides total time between leisure, household production and market work. For the purpose of comparison, we also estimate a version that is consistent with a more traditional model of labor supply, the unitary model.

The present study suggests a generalization of the standard translog cost function model, incorporating the demand side of the market into the analysis. The main advantage of this generalized model is that it can be used to directly investigate the degree of monopoly power in the market under study, using the Lerner index as the empirical measure of market power. The Swedish construction industry is used as an empirical example of how to apply this method. Within the framework of the neoclassical theory of production, cost and factor demand functions as well as an expression equating marginal cost to marginal revenue are estimated. The paper finds substitutability between capital and labor and between labor and materials, the returns to scale are found to be increasing, while introduction of new technology is found to reduce the total cost of production. Finally, on average, the Lerner index amounts to 15.1% per annum suggesting that the Swedish construction industry possesses some monopoly power in the market for its product. This result also suggests that the results from cost function analysis, not taking the possibility of market power into account, might be biased due to misspecification of the model.

There has been a great deal of interest in addressing water quality issues through the use of Transferable Discharge Permit (TDP) systems. Unfortunately, the attempts to start up permit markets that are able to exploit abatement cost differences between sources have not met with the success expected. Two of the reasons for the lack of success have been the problem of transaction costs and in the case of non-point sources (NPS), undefined property rights. The composite market design is a proposal for a TDP system that specifically includes agricultural non-point source (NPS) discharges and addresses both property rights and transaction cost problems. The composite market consists of three interrelated markets each serving a particular function. The two primary markets are coordinated through price information that makes it possible for a catchment-based authority to issue (sell) permits based on the marginal cost of abatement. When the composite market is mature, the total number of permits issued corresponds to a cap on discharges allowed in the catchment. The structure of the composite market allows this system to be phased in over time with existing institutions and limited demands on financing.

There has been overwhelming interest in addressing water quality issues through the use of economic instruments. Much of this attention has focused on the cost efficiencies offered by Transferable Discharge Permit (TDP) systems. Unfortunately, the attempts to start up permit markets which are able to exploit abatement cost differences between sources have not met with the success expected. Two of the reasons for the lack of success that have been taken up in analysis of these programs have been the problem of transaction costs and in the case of non-point sources (NPS), undefined property rights. The composite market design is a proposal for a TDP system which specifically includes agricultural non-point source (NPS) dischargers and addresses both property rights and transaction cost problems. The composite market consists of three interrelated markets each serving a particular function. When the composite market is mature, the total number of permits issued represents the cap on discharges allowed in the catchment. The structure of the composite market allows this system to be phased in over time with existing institutions and limited demands on financing.

6. Phase-in of nonpoint sources in a transferable discharge permit system for water quality management

Collentine, Dennis

University of Gävle, Department of Business Administration and Economics, Ämnesavdelningen för nationalekonomi.

The composite market design is a proposal for a transferable discharge permit system that specifically includes agricultural non-point-source dischargers and addresses both property rights and transaction cost problems. The first step to implementation of a composite market scheme is the estimation of a supply curve for abatement measures in the catchment area. Estimation is performed by combining costs with modeled loss reductions from selected best management practices and then using this information to estimate the supply curve for abatement, which in turn can then be used to set permit prices. The Rönneå catchment in southern Sweden is used as a pilot study area for making this type of estimate. Costs for existing measures that reduce nutrient losses from farmland (catch crops and spring planting) are based on existing programs financed by the Swedish Agricultural Board. A set of supply curves is calculated for these measures using retention estimates for seven subcatchments and three soil types in the area. Although existing information is sufficient to calculate partial supply curves and may be used to set permit prices, additional measures should be included as well as an increased number of variables for differentiating site specific reduction costs.

7. CATCH: A method for structured discussions and a tool for decision support

Collentine, Dennis

et al.

University of Gävle, Department of Business Administration and Economics, Ämnesavdelningen för nationalekonomi.

Low participation rates by farmers in voluntary agri-environmental programs may depend on rationally bounded ex ante estimates of the negative effect of program enrollment on farm income. Uncertainty and the presence of information transaction costs may lead to the use of heuristics by farmers to reduce adoption decision costs. This paper describes how LENNART, a net-based decision support system (DSS), has been designed to exploit the use of heuristics and provide low cost access to information. The model has been developed to evaluate the effects of agronomic measures on farm income and on the leaching of nutrients from cultivated fields. A subsidy program for catch crop cultivation in Southern Sweden served as the basis for development of the DSS and is used throughout the paper for purposes of illustration. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Changes in the Swedish tax code during the 1990s were structured in a way that offers an opportunity to test whether ex-dividend prices were determined by the taxation of domestic individual investors. The results presented in this paper indicate that ex-dividend prices were not influenced by the relatively large tax changes for domestic individual investors. In addition, there was no evidence that the taxation of domestic individual investors influenced ex-dividend prices for any specific dividend yield group.

In this paper, we use a non-parametric regression method to compare the transition process from high to low inflation with the implementation dates of central bank independence reforms. In most countries, price stability is achieved before more independence is given to the central bank. Moreover, for those countries which have implemented a central bank independence reform under a high inflation regime, no evidence is found that the reforms have actually led to price stability. This suggests that the credibility of a low inflation goal can be achieved without institutional reforms which grant the central bank more independence from the political policymakers.

In this paper a comparative study of the regime shift in inflation policies in New Zealand and Sweden is performed. A nonparametric regression method is used to decompose the inflation time series into three components of variation: a long-term trend, a medium-term (cyclical and transient variations) trend and a short-term shocks component. This allows study of the transition process from the high inflation characterizing the end of the 1970s and the 1980s to the low inflation observed during the 1990s. It is found that in New Zealand, although it is initially delayed, the decrease in inflation happens at a faster pace than in Sweden. This may indicate that reforms were more efficient in New Zealand. A clear link is also shown between the rising unemployment and the transition from high to low inflation. Furthermore, while in New Zealand a downward adjustment of the unemployment rate happens directly after the transition period, in Sweden there seems to be persistence in high unemployment.

The purpose of this paper is to study the intra-household allocation of time to different household production activities using Swedish cross-sectional household data. The Tobit model is rejected in favor of the Cragg model, suggesting that an empirical model has to take into consideration that allocation of time within the household is determined by two separate processes. Moreover, the results indicate that valuable information concerning the intra-household allocation of time may be missing when household production is defined as the sum of different household activities, but there is no indication that statistically significant effects are wiped out in an aggregated analysis.

This paper examines, using a zero-inflated negative binomial regression model, what determined entry into the Swedish retail and wholesale trade markets between 1990 and 1996. According to the results, high returns on equity and low sunk costs seemed to attract more entry into retail trade industries, while recent entry and higher total industry sales were associated with more entry into both retail and wholesale trade local markets.

This paper studies the impact of the Stockholm road pricing trial on retail revenues. The analysis is performed using revenue data from 14 shopping malls, 9 within the tool area and 5 outside the tool area. The data also include revenue data from a sample of retail stores located along the main shopping streets in Stockholm. The results show that the Stockholm road pricing trial did not negatively affect retail revenue, neither in shopping malls nor in the sample of retail stores.

In Västerbotten County, Sweden, there are two health centers which (in contrast to all other health centers in the region) bear strict responsibility over their pharmaceutical budget. This study examined whether the prices and quantities of pharmaceuticals prescribed by physicians working at these health centers differ significantly from those prescribed by physicians at health centers with open-ended budgets. Estimation results using matching methods, which allows us to compare similar patients at the different health centers, show that the introduction of fixed pharmaceutical budgets did not affect physicians' prescription behavior, indicating that fixed budgets may not be an efficient measure to reduce costs. Another explanation is that the health centers under study already had taken measures to contain costs, making it hard to further reduce costs.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD, directive 2000/60/EC) was created to ensure the sustainable use of water resources in the European Union. A central guideline included throughout the directive is a call for the participation of stakeholders in the management of these resources. Involving stakeholders is an important step to ensure that catchment management plans take into consideration local experience in the development of these plans and the impact of the plans on local interests. This paper describes and analyses the results of a series of workshops to facilitate implementation of the WFD at a catchment level based on the stakeholder participation model, CATCH. To test the usefulness of the CATCH model, developed for water management in a catchment area, a sub-catchment in an alpine valley in the north-east of Italy, the Alta Valsugana in the Province of Trento, was chosen as the setting for a series of workshops. In this valley water is fundamental for activities associated with agriculture, domestic use, energy production, sports and recreation. In the recent past the valley has had serious problems related to water quality and quantity. Implementation of water management plans under the WFD may lead to conflicts within the catchment between different stakeholder interest groups. Including stakeholders in the development of management plans not only follows the guidelines of the WFD but also could result in a more locally adapted and acceptable plan for the catchment. A new stakeholder analysis methodology was developed and implemented in order to identify the relevant stakeholders of the area and then two sets of workshops involving the key stakeholders identified were conducted in Spring 2006. The CATCH meetings were a new experience for the participants, who had to deal with both the principles of the WFD in general and the participation requirement in particular. During the meetings, the CATCH model played a very important role in structuring the participatory process. It provided a general framework consisting of a sequence of steps that helped the participants to reach the goal of the process: the identification and evaluation of measures to improve water management in the catchment. This test of the CATCH model showed it to be a dynamic and flexible tool, useful for structuring and guiding the participation process, without imposing undue restrictions on influencing the outcome of stakeholder participation in a small catchment.

The purpose of this paper is to determine if differences in health outcomes of two cardiovascular disease prevention programs can be attributed to the inclusion of population based efforts in one of the programs. Propensity score matching has been used to eliminate possible selection bias. The results indicate that the intervention including population-based measures was not more effective than the intervention directed toward the individual.

The study examined the relationship between the approval times for new pharmaceuticals and the number of adverse drug reactions reported to the Swedish Medical Products Agency. Yearly time-series data concerning the number of adverse drug reactions, as well as data concerning prices and quantities sold for 25 pharmaceutical substances during the period 1972-1996 were used. The results show that shorter approval times are associated with more adverse drug reactions, but also that the effects are quite small.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of the new regulation concerning entry of pharmacies into the Norwegian pharmaceuticals market in 2001 on cost and availability of pharmaceutical products. Methods: In order to study costs, a translog cost function is estimated using data from the annual reports of a sample of Norwegian pharmacies before and after the deregulation of the market. Linear regression models for the number of pharmacies in each region in Norway are also estimated. Results: The results show that the costs of the individual pharmacies have not decreased as a consequence of the deregulation of the Norwegian pharmaceuticals market. The deregulation of the market did, however, increase the availability to pharmacy services substantially. Conclusions: Increased availability of pharmacy services can be achieved by deregulating pharmaceutical markets as in Norway, but at the expense of increased costs for the pharmacies. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

AIMS: The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of pharmaceutical insurance on the demand for prescription pharmaceuticals in the county of Västerbotten, Sweden. As the patients do not bear the full marginal costs of the pharmaceuticals they consume when pharmaceutical insurance systems are present, this could induce patients to over-consume pharmaceutical treatments.

METHODS: Data covering all prescription pharmaceuticals sold in the county of Västerbotten, Sweden during the year 2001 have been provided by the local county council. Data include information concerning the gender and age of the patient, the number of defined daily doses, total cost, and the patient's co-payment for the prescription. The hypothesis that patients will consume more (or perhaps more expensive) pharmaceuticals when there is pharmaceutical insurance is tested by means of regression analysis.

RESULTS: The results show that both the quantities dispensed and the price of the pharmaceuticals consumed increase when the pharmaceutical insurance system pays part of the total cost of the pharmaceuticals consumed.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that introducing a small patient co-payment for all prescriptions should be an effective measure to decrease pharmaceutical consumption.

This study examined the relationship between generic drug market shares and the number of reported side effects. Yearly time-series data for the number of reported side effects and information on market shares, prices, and quantities from 1972 to 1996 were used in this study. Poisson and negative binomial regression models were used in the statistical analysis. The results show that increased generic market share increases the number of reported side effects for all estimated models. When studying the relationship at the substance level, increasing generic market shares increases the number of side effects for 7 of the 15 substances. Generic substitution laws and measures to increase generic competition may thus have unintended consequences since these results show a positive relationship between generic market shares and reported side effects.

In this study we concentrate on injuries and affected households’ capacities to earn incomes. A longitudinal study was performed in Bavi district, Vietnam, with the specific objectives to investigate: (1) the affects of injuries on incomes by comparing income changes in injured and non-injured individuals; (2) the affect of injuries on social mobility by estimating households’ relative risk of dropping into poverty for households with and without injuries and estimating the relative risk of escaping from poverty for households without and with injuries. The propensity score matching method using a logit model was used for data analysis. The results show that on average, the loss per household is estimated at VND 1,084,000 (USD 72) for poor and VND 2,598,000 (USD 173) for non-poor, equivalent to 11 (9) and 15 (13) working months of an average person in the poor and non-poor group, respectively, during 1999 (2001). The relative risk of dropping into poverty for non-poor households with and without injuries equal to 1.21 (p = 0.08) and the relative risk of escaping from poverty between poor households without and with injuries equal to 0.96 (p = 0.39). In conclusion, it has been argued that the introduction of user fees created a poverty trap and thus their removal may be a solution. However, user fees are only a part of the burden on households. Loss of income during the illness period is likely to be a problem of the same magnitude. A successful solution must thus follow two tracks: prepayment of health care and some insurance based compensation of income losses during the illness period. Both reforms, if they are persistent, must be done within the resource limits of the local society. If the risk of catastrophic illness is more evenly spread across the society, it would increase the general welfare even if no more resources are provided.